Steven Van Zandt

A key figure in two of the most acclaimed organizations in popular culture - Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and "The Sopranos" (HBO, 1999-2007) - Steven Van Zandt was a musician, songwriter and com...
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Steven Van Zandt sued over The Rascals book

By:
WENN.com
Jan 29, 2015

Rocker/actor Steven Van Zandt is facing a lawsuit over a book he commissioned about soul group The Rascals. Bruce Springsteen's longtime collaborator has championed the band's comeback in recent years, backing a reunion tour and producing their Broadway show The Rascals: Once Upon a Dream along with his wife Maureen.
Van Zandt also commissioned a commemorative picture book to celebrate the stage show, and he is now facing a legal battle with the man he hired to take charge of the project.
Joseph Russo has filed suit against Van Zandt claiming he has yet to receive proper payment for his work on the book. In the suit, which was filed at a court in Manhattan, New York, Russo is demanding payment and has asked to see accounts of the profits, according to the New York Post.

Sixties singer Ronnie Spector has credited Bruce Springsteen and his guitarist Steven Van Zandt with saving her from total destruction after she walked out on her husband Phil Spector. The Ronettes star left the legendary music producer in 1974 after years of abusive and controlling behaviour, but she found it impossible to re-ignite her career and suspected her estranged husband was using his power in the industry to hinder her comeback.
Eventually she got her life back on track in 1976 by teaming up with Van Zandt and rocker Southside Johnny to record a duet written for her by Springsteen, and the song's success gave her the strength to finally move on from her past.
Spector tells Mojo magazine, "What Bruce and Steven did - along with Johnny - was give me an opportunity to get out and sing on the road with a rock band and that was important to me then. My ex-husband was trying to break me and working with those guys saved me. They looked out for me, they wanted me to know I meant something to them and to music."

Rocker/actor Steven Van Zandt had a blast with his directorial debut on the third season finale of his Netflix series Lilyhammer because he got the chance to tell his Boss, Bruce Springsteen, what to do. The E Street Band stars teamed up for the show, in which guitarist Van Zandt plays a New York mobster lying low in Norway, after Springsteen signed up to play the killer brother of his bandmate's character.
It was the Born in the U.S.A. singer's first acting role, and Van Zandt admits The Boss was a natural.
He tells the Associated Press, "I know we're friends for 50 years, but still it meant a lot to me that he chose me and trusted me enough to direct him when literally everybody on earth's been wanting to do it, and he did great.
"He's really acting. It's not some cameo. He's not playing himself. It's a real thing."

Rocker and actor Steven Van Zandt and U.S. late night host Jimmy Fallon gave Frank Sinatra an early birthday salute on Tuesday (09Dec14) by performing a rendition of the late crooner's My Kind Of Town on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Sinatra, who passed away in 1998, would have turned 99 on 12 December (14).

Former The Sopranos star Drea De Matteo had to talk co-star Steven Van Zandt into killing her character when he initially refused to be the guy pulling the trigger in the scene. The actress, who portrayed Adriana La Cerva in over 60 episodes of the cult show, admits Bruce Springsteen's sideman did everything he could to avoid the fateful scene, even telling show creator David Chase he wasn't going to shoot his friend's character.
In a Reddit.com webchat with fans on Sunday (19Oct14), she recalls, "All of us had known already that my character was dying (and) Van Zandt was actually the most p**sed off about it, he didn't want to do it, he just didn't want to do it.
"I had to talk him into how awesome it was gonna be and how important it was (but) he didn't want to pull me out of that car, he didn't want to call me a c-word, he didn't want to shoot me in the head.
"When we shot that scene... confidentiality was king on the show, I mean, they were crazy over not letting any leaks get out, so we shot it two ways... One was... where I'm actually driving away, but you can tell in that scene that I'm daydreaming about driving away. We shot it that way as an alt (alternative), but the word on set was that we were shooting it that way to throw the crew off, and nobody knew the truth, myself included.
"He (Chase) was so secretive and protective of his story lines that he would go as far as shooting things twice and figuring out what he wanted to do in an editing room. So I didn't even know what my outcome would be until I was watching the show. I knew I was going away, but... I think I was the least upset of the actors there, about it, because I was never meant to be there as long as I was; I was a day player on the show. To have lived that life on a show and to have played a character that so many people loved... was a great part to play, so I was grateful. I was in support of how I died."

Bruce Springsteen has been recruited by his E Street Band colleague Steven Van Zandt to appear in the upcoming season of Netflix drama Lilyhammer. The Boss is poised to make his acting debut in Van Zandt's series, which stars the guitarist as a New York mobster who goes into hiding in rural Lillehammer, Norway after testifying against his former associates.
In episodes for the third season shot in New York, Van Zandt plays a priest, while Springsteen takes on the role of a mortuary owner, according to Deadline.com.
Editors at the site also report that Van Zandt's former The Sopranos co-star Tony Sirico has joined Lilyhammer in a recurring role.

Bruce Springsteen's long-suffering sideman Steven Van Zandt is helping soul legend Darlene Love stage a big career comeback by recruiting a gang of stars for her new album. The E Street Band guitarist hit his contacts book to call on famous friends to join longtime Phil Spector collaborator Love in the studio after promising to help the singer with her career over three decades ago.
He tells Rolling Stone magazine, "I'm writing, Elvis Costello's writing. I've talked to Bruce about a song."
He's also hoping to persuade singer/songwriter Carole King to pen a new track for Love, as well as Elvis Presley's hitmaker Mike Stoller.
Van Zandt adds, "Everybody I know that is a great songwriter, I'm talking to. We're hoping to have an all-star album for Darlene, which she deserves."
Love was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2011, three years before Van Zandt was added as a member of the E Street Band. Love recently returned to the spotlight as one of the featured artists in the documentary 20 Feet From Stardom, which centred on the careers of working backing singers.

ABC Television Network
TV shows Modern Family, Top Of The Lake and Lilyhammer were among the winners at the 54th Golden Nymph Awards at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival on Wednesday (11Jun14). Detective series Top Of The Lake was the night's big winner, scooping the trophy for Best Miniseries while its stars Elisabeth Moss and Peter Mullan took home the gongs for Best Actress in a Miniseries and Best Actor in a Miniseries respectively.
Mockumentary comedy Modern Family scooped the International TV Audience Award for comedy, while the show's star Julie Bowen won the prize for Best Actress in a comedy series. The award for Best International Comedy Series went to Norway's Lilyhammer, and actor Steven Van Zandt received the Best Actor in a comedy series prize for his role in the show.
American show The Bold &amp; The Beautiful won the International TV Audience Award for a telenovela/soap. Also honoured were British series Episodes, which took the Best European comedy prize, Hostages, which scooped the Best International Drama Trophy, and crime drama NCIS which won the International TV Audience Award for drama.

Bruce Springsteen thrilled fans at the New Orleans Jazz &amp; Heritage Festival on Saturday (03May14) when he chugged back a beer offered to him by a devotee as he made his way through the crowd during the show.
The Boss and his Rock &amp; Roll Hall of Fame-inducted backing group the E Street Band stormed through a three-hour set as part of their headlining slot at the event in Louisiana - but it was one magic non-musical moment that will live on for many devotees there to see the marathon gig. Springsteen accepted a beer from one fan and knocked back the drink to rousing applause. He made it a special night for another fan when he kept true to tradition and invited her to dance with him onstage during a rendition of Dancing in the Dark.
As well as the hits and rarities, the rocker also brought guests onstage - former Rage Against the Machine star Tom Morello, who stepped in to replace Springsteen's guitarist sideman Steven Van Zandt on tour last year (13), performed a duet of The Ghost of Tom Joad, and John Fogerty, who joined the headliner for a rousing rendition of his Creedence Clearwater Revival hit Proud Mary.

"We're here to make him look good, basically." Rocker Steven Van Zandt jokes about the role of the E Street Band as Bruce Springsteen's longtime sidekicks. The musicians were honoured in their own right by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum on Thursday (10Apr14), when they were inducted as part of the Class of 2014.

With Johnny Lyon, played in bands like Sundance Blues Band and Dr. Zoom and the Sonic Boom, the latter formed by Springsteen

Managed and produced Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes; assisted in landing band a recording contract; produced the group's first album I Don't Want to Go Home (1976)

Spoke out against apartheid at the United Nations and before the US Senate

Wrote and performed (along with Darlene Love) "All Alone on Christmas"; the theme from "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York"

Reunited with Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes as producer of their album Better Days

Released his debut solo album Men Without Women

Assembled and directed an all-star band to back Hank Williams Jr. on a new version of "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight" for the season premiere of "Monday Night Football"

Contributed songs to the second album by Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, This Time It's for Real

Produced first album for Renegade Nation, Demolition 23

Created Sun City, an anti-apartheid album featuring rock and rap acts including Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Run-DMC and Kurtis Blow; also produced documentary feature of same name

Contributed the song "Baby Please Don't Go" to Nancy Sinatra's self-titled album

Appeared with E Street Band members in the concert documentary "No Nukes"

Co-wrote song "You Don't Have to Cry" for the soundtrack of Jonathan Demme's Something Wild

Penned the Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes' hit "I Don't Want To Go Home"; served as theme song for the Jersey shore-set Fox sitcom "Down the Shore"

Joined Springsteen's E Street Band as a guitar player and backup singer

Established own record label, Renegade Nation

Summary

A key figure in two of the most acclaimed organizations in popular culture - Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band and "The Sopranos" (HBO, 1999-2007) - Steven Van Zandt was a musician, songwriter and composer who served as Springsteen's producing and performing partner for over three decades before making an auspicious debut as an actor on the Emmy-winning crime series. Though his stage presence straddled the border between comic and menacing, Van Zandt was a passionate fan of '50s and '60s-era rock and a savvy producer whose collaborations with Springsteen included some of his greatest albums, including <i>Born to Run</i> (1976) and <i>Born in the U.S.A.</i> (1984). After leaving the E Street Band in the 1980s, he recruited a host of music luminaries, including Springsteen, for "Sun City" (1985), an anti-apartheid protest song that helped bring the racial inequalities of South Africa's government into a global spotlight. He reunited with Springsteen in the late '90s for a series of celebrated records while impressing critics and audiences alike as the phlegmatic Silvio Dante on "The Sopranos." During this busy period, he also hosted his own syndicated radio show, which soon blossomed into a satellite network and record label. A bonafide renaissance man of the 21st century, Steven Van Zandt proved that a life spent in pursuit of great music could yield extraordinary results.

Name

Role

Comments

Maureen Zandt

Wife

Born c. 1951; married c. 1982; played Steven's on-screen wife on season five of "The Sopranos" (HBO)

Education

Name

Notes

Van Zandt on resuming his music career after a ten year break between solo albums: "It wasn't so much a decision as a revelation that I missed rock music, which has probably never been less fashionable than it is now. I missed making rock music, but I struggled with the question of how do you make rock music that is not redundant, that has not been done before. Then I realized that rock 'n' roll in redundant by definition. And that's OK, as long as you bring it somewhere that works for you." - quoted in the Boston Herald, Nov. 5, 1999

"I'm not kidding when I say the hair is doing the acting. The look is very important to me. When I look in the mirror I've got to see Silvio." - the usually bandana-clad Steven Van Zandt on the black bouffant wig he dons to play Mafia henchman Silvio Dante on "The Sopranos" (HBO), quoted in People magazine, Sep. 13, 1999

Steven Van Zandt on his successful audition for "The Sopranos" (HBO): "I sat down with David [creator of "The Sopranos"] and told him I was a little awkward about taking the part. I didn't feel comfortable taking an actor's job. You always read about how actors are out of work and how they work their whole life taking these classes and here I am, a guitar player, stepping in and maybe taking someone's job. David said 'OK, I'll tell you what, I'll create a new character for you so you won't be taking anybody's job.' And I was OK with that." - quoted in The Los Angeles Times, Dec. 19, 1999

Van Zandt on the popularity of "The Sopranos" (HBO): "What I think makes the show connect with so many people is that the problems they have, generally speaking, are the problems that everybody has. Everybody has two families. Everybody has their family at home and their family at work. Everybody has those kind of complicated human relations. That's what a lot of the show is about. It's not just about gangster stuff. Take Silvio [Van Zandt's character] for instance. There are some funny quirks in his character. When it comes to life-threatening situations, he's a very, very cool professional. But he'll completely lose his temper at his daughter's soccer game." - quoted in The Los Angeles Times, Dec. 19, 1999

Steven Van Zandt on balancing concurrent work on "The Sopranos" (HBO) with the E Street Band reunion tour: "It's gotten a little tricky juggling the two things. Thank God, HBO and the 'Sopranos' people went out of their way to schedule my scenes on days off, which was really, really nice of them. They've bent over backward. And Springsteen's people did what they could to make it all work out." - quoted in Chicago Sun-Times, Jan. 17, 2000